The Tao of Shining On

"Once you label me, you negate me." —Søren Kierkegaard (purportedly)

I was on my way to a preparation workshop for the Chöd retreat/empowerment I'll be attending in a couple of weeks when I heard the above quote. I was listening to the Soul Series on my XM. It's on Oprah and Friends. I really like this series. Oprah just sits and talks with interesting people like Jon Kabat-Zinn, Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Dyer. Mario and I used to drive around on Sundays (twenty years ago) and listen to New Dimensions (because we couldn't get reception at home) and this new Soul Series reminds me of that: People talking in-depth about life, soul, and the invisibles.

Today she had Wayne Dyer on. I've never read Dyer before because I figured he was one of these "think positive thoughts and everything will be OK" kind of guys—and that just gets on my nerves. But cocooned in my car, I let myself listen to him. I'm glad I did. He was very interesting. And he had a couple of quotes I really liked. Like the one above. I hate labels. (I am a librarian, yes, and I hate labels. If I had my druthers, all fiction would be interfiled, in alphabetical order by author. No genre labels.)

And I particularly don't like labels on people. On me. Labels tend to put little boxes around people. Frames.

Labels frame people.

I was framed, Ma!

I don't like being framed. Or labeled.

And I'm going to stop labeling and thereby negating others. Yes, you heard it here first.

Dyer was on Soul Series talking about his new book and the Way of the Tao. He said something which really hit home with me (and made me think I should read more of the Tao, which I haven't done in many years). He was talking about living in compassion and being a giving person. The Sun has been shining on the Earth for billions of years, he said. Imagine if it had demanded accolades all these years and would only shine when it was praised or received payment for shining. The Sun doesn't do that. It just keeps on shining.

What a cool dude/dudette that Sun is. I shall follow in its brilliant footsteps...or in its beams.

Let's all just keep on shining on.

Whaddayasay?